New Zealand Resorts: 50-50 Chance on Queenstown's Beacon Resort

Where: 33 Lake Esplanade, Queenstown, New Zealand

June 13, 2008 at 8:55 AM | by amandak | Comments (0)

We've heard some nice things about the collection of Peppers resorts you can find across Australia and New Zealand, so we figured that a good spot to stay in Queenstown--current absolute tourist fave of New Zealand--would be the Peppers Beacon Resort.

The Beacon sounds great from the surface level and has truly outstanding views from many of the rooms--like this one over the lake, and you can also choose from mountain and garden views. It's located a five-minute walk from the middle of Queenstown itself, so you can't get much more convenient.

But according to some of the feedback from recent guests, that's where the good points stop. There've been a suspiciously high number of bad experiences there of late, including not enough blankets, partly flooded rooms, tiny rooms, dirty coffee pots, blocked sinks and a lack of toilet paper.

Sounds like Beacon is having some troubles living up to its five-star rating, but a smaller percentage of guests do have success there. It probably pays to book a suite rather than a smaller hotel room--garden suites for two to four people start at NZ$337 (US$250) a night, and lake view suites from NZ$486 (US$365), so they're not too pricey at all.

For us, the jury's out on the Beacon, but we know Queenstown is a fantastic vacation spot, so if there's not much else available it's worth the risk.

[Photo: dag16]

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